Matilda Kalef Cerge

Serbia
Interviewed in Belgrade in 2004
by Rachel Chanin

Photo: Father Tumpej in front of his church with those who sang in his choir during the war. Matilda Kalef Cerge is on the front row, fourth from left; her sister Breda is third from right, same row. Breda learned to sing in this choir and went on to become the most famous mezzo-soprano in Yugoslavia. Breda had entered Father Tumpej’s protection in 1941 as Rahela, and he changed in her name to Breda in her fake ID. After the war, Breda told us, “I couldn’t change my name back. Father Tumpej didn’t just give me a name. By saving me, he gave me a life.”

Read the biography
View the family pictures here.

“I couldn’t change my name back. Father Tumpej didn’t just give me a name. By saving me, he gave me a life.”

After they had taken away almost all of our family, my mother, completely beside herself, took us to [the Belgrade suburb of] Banovo Brdo, where she begged a Catholic priest, Andrej Tumpej to take us in. Father Tumpej gave us false papers as the out-of-wedlock children of our mother, Antonija Ograjensek, [her maiden name] so that we would have some documents. My new name was Lidija Ograjensek and my sister's was Breda; her birth name was Rahela.

Next to the church there was an apartment where these nuns lived. We got two beds in a room and were there for three months. Just my sister and I. They took us in and then we couldn't go anywhere. When we were with the nuns we were the only children hiding there. They were very polite. And most importantly, they were thrilled because we knew the Old Testament because as Jewish children, we had learned the Old Testament in our Hebrew school. There was no pressure to convert.

Later Father Tumpej made it possible for us to go to a regular school, and the school director accepted us knowing we didn't have the kinds of school documents we would need from our former school. He simply accepted us on his personal responsibility, meaning, of course, he must have known.

Andrej Tumpej was an exceptional man. He hid Dr. Vajs, a pediatrician who had gone over to the Partizans, at some point. He also hid two other Jewish girls…but when he was helping them escape, someone recognized them. They were caught and taken away. I have no idea what happened to them; I’m sure it was very bad.

After this the Germans locked up Father Tumpej. When he was in prison a German asked him, 'How could you dare to do this, to hide Jewish girls?' and he answered, 'And tomorrow if you were in that kind of situation I would do the same for you.' He was a man in the true sense of the word. Exceptional.

Matilda and Rahela Kalef grew up in a large and wealthy Sephardic family in Belgrade. The Germans invaded in 1941 and in short order, almost all their relatives—from children to aged grandparents—were taken away and murdered.